So in case you can’t tell, I am rather fond of hashtags. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I’ve talked about a few different LGBTQ+ hashtags this month, and lots more in previous months, and tonight is no different. I want to show you #ProudToBe because it’s super cute, super positive, and helps to balance out all the serious and at times sad posts I’ve published recently.

…but let’s not focus on that, because I said this post would be happy. Here is the original video!

Anyway, you can find more videos here, as well as tweets over here. Wading through the hashtag on Twitter is a bit difficult, to be honest, since so many of the tweets link to articles or blog posts about it, and others are criticism or people misunderstanding the purpose of the hashtag (“I’m #ProudToBe white,” et cetera), but if you keep going there are a lot of things posted by teenagers, which makes me SO happy. To see so many kids who have already figured out their identity years before I did is so wonderful. There are also a ton of videos uploaded by couples, which is just… AHHH THEY’RE SO CUTE.

I know this is a much shorter post than usual, but the next few posts in the home stretch of this Pride 2016 blog series will be much longer, and I really really wanted to say at least a little something about #ProudToBe. I love that it was created, because we are all too often encouraged – by both cis straight people and, sometimes, even other LGBTQ+ people – to not draw attention to this part of ourselves. “Who needs labels? We’re all just HUMAN!” they say, and they – whoever this mysterious “they” is – have a point.

But there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging all facets of your identity, either, including your sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Go ahead. Be LGBTQ+ and be proud of it.

P.S. I’m #ProudToBe the world’s tiniest, sleepiest, most inept lesbian blogger. That is Very Specific, I know, but it’s true.